Jonathan Wards company, Icon, does amazing custom rebuilds of classic SUVs such as Land Cruisers and Jeeps. Now Ward has revealed his newest creation: a rebuilt Ford Bronco with some serious giddy-up.

Jonathan Ward's company, Icon, does amazing custom rebuilds of classic SUVs such as Land Cruisers and Jeeps. Now Ward has revealed his newest creation: a rebuilt Ford Bronco with some serious giddy-up.

Ford teased the world in 2004 when it unveiled the Bronco Concept at the Detroit Auto Show. It was retro-styled and just as dimensionally compact as the original Bronco, yet powered by 21st-century technology—sign us up. But that Ford concept never materialized as a production Bronco.

The good news, aside from a new rumor that Ford’s truck engineers are squirreled away working on another Bronco revival, is that Icon 4x4 decided tp unleash its talented team on Ford’s legendary SUV.

2 of 10

Jonathan Ward, the company’s founder, has built a cottage industry of reimagining classic 4WDs with modern powertrains, Baja-ready suspensions, and metalwork so stunning it would be more at home on an Aston Martin than a truck. The first Icon model was the FJ40 Land Cruiser, and PM took one of them on a Colorado road trip two years ago. Today, the company will build you a four-door, six-passenger FJ44 Land Cruiser and an FJ45 pickup, as well as a Jeep CJ3B. And at the SEMA show a few weeks ago, it took the wraps off the Icon Bronco.

3 of 10

The Icon Bronco starts life as a classic 1966–1977 Ford Bronco. The Icon team then separates the chassis from the body and sells that complete rolling frame, including the motor, transmission axles, and fuel system, back to the Bronco community. The body, which Ward makes sure is one of the few that hasn’t had it’s rear fenders cut and enlarged to accommodate offroad tires, is completely restored and enhanced for quietness with sound-suppressing Dynamat and insulating foam.

4 of 10

Icon looks for weak links or details that need improvement. Then its engineers have new components fabricated—sometimes at staggering expense. For instance, the door hinges are cast stainless steel. The door mirrors and handles are custom CNC aluminum pieces. The tailgate uses a custom stainless-steel insert with Icon’s logo. And the grill, also stainless steel, is a hand-welded piece with CNC-machined ICON letters. Forget about the tinny grill on a stock Bronco—this is serious stuff. The Bronco has LED headlamps that will soon appear on a production Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Although the rest of the lights look stock, they’re all LED too.

5 of 10

Lift the hood and you’ll find a new Mustang GT’s 412-hp 5.0-liter Coyote V-8. It comes paired to an AX-15 five-speed manual, a transmission that saw duty in Jeep Wranglers for many years. Or buyers can opt for a Ford four-speed automatic. This powertrain is paired to a heavy-duty Atlas II transfer case with a 3.0:1 low range or an optional 5.0:1 low range.

The chassis isn’t simply a modified factory Bronco setup. Rather, it’s a new Art Morrison frame built from 2 x 4 x .180–inch wall rails. Those rails are spaced slightly wider for increased stability. All the mounts for the new four-wheel coil-sprung suspension are welded to this frame. The suspension uses Fox Racing shocks and Eibach coils to allow 12 inches of wheel travel.

A Dynatrac-built Dana 44 axle sits up front with a heavier-duty Dana 60 at the rear, both filled with 4.09:1 gears and ARB locking differentials. Yes, it’s a very hardcore package. And it should prove to be a durable one, considering Ward is using a fairly mild 285/70R17-size tire on Hutchinson road-legal beadlock wheels. The braking system uses big six-piston calipers with Stoptech 15-inch front rotors, and four-piston calipers and 14-inch discs in the rear.

6 of 10

Tech Tidbit:

The front and rear suspensions use hefty 2-inch-diameter control arms. But to allow the suspension to flex properly, there are "Johnny Joints" at each end of the links. These joints allow the suspension to flex over rough terrain, but unlike traditional spherical rod ends, they are rebuildable and have a fitting so you can lubricate them. These joints are named after John Currie, the famed custom axle builder who invented them in the 1990s.

7 of 10

Driving Character:

The heft and precision of the door handle and the solidity of the door itself speak to the care with which the parts on this vehicle were chosen and assembled. It’s a climb to enter the driver’s seat, which is why there’s an automatic step that slides out and lowers as you open the door. The seats, door panels, and heavy-duty floor matting are all covered in Chilewich, an industrial fabric. The dash panel is all-new, and wears a gauge cluster that takes its inspiration from a Bell & Ross watch face. It all looks very serious, stark, and almost militaristic inside.

The big V-8 engine fires when you hit a button on the new tilt steering column—no need for keys here. And it sounds throatier and meaner than any Mustang. Although Ward has reinvented this Bronco, the ergonomics are old-school. You sit tall in this truck, with a panoramic view of the road ahead. The dash seems like it’s down by your knees, compared with modern trucks.

8 of 10

Since the transmission doesn’t have a "granny low" first gear, it’s easier to launch this Bronco from a dead stop. And it pulls hard for sure. But, as Ward reminds us, this is the very first Icon Bronco. It’s a prototype. We notice a slight dip in the power surge as the revs build. That, he says, is due to a smaller diameter exhaust on this truck. He will soon be upgrading it to a full 3-inch exhaust system.

The coils-spring suspension rides beautifully over the broken and potholed pavement near Icon’s headquarters in Van Nuys, Calif. There’s none of the buckboard, stiff-legged motions that old 4x4s are known for. The Icon just floats. However, Ward admits, it needs a front swaybar. This truck wears only a rear swaybar, so if you pitch it hard into a corner, the body keels over a bit, like a Baja Trophy Truck.

After our short drive in the prototype Bronco, we took out one of Ward’s other creations—a production Icon FJ44. The ride quality was just as smooth as the Bronco, but with front and rear swaybars, it felt much more buttoned-down.

9 of 10

Favorite Detail:

It’s rare to see an early Bronco without its rear fenders cut and flared to accommodate larger tires. But Ward’s Icon needs no such modification. The reason, he says, is that the stock leaf-sprung rear suspensions arc rearward as it cycles up, sending wider rear wheels and tires into the fender. Ward’s setup, he says, doesn’t arc backward as it travels. That, combined with a slightly narrower track and a carefully chosen wheel offset, allow a good-size tire to neatly tuck up into the original fenders.

10 of 10

The Bottom Line:

The Icon Bronco is an amazingly detailed and refined reimagining of the classic Ford. But that costs plenty. Icons run at or over six figures, and this Bronco will cost you about $150,000. The company has sold about 90 of the complete vehicles since it began building them five years ago, but there’s hope on the horizon for the rest of us.

Legally, Icon must use preexisting vehicles and their VIN tags to rebuild them into Icons. But, Ward says, if a new bill introduced in Congress called the Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturer’s Act passes, he’d be able to increase production because he wouldn’t have to find donor vehicles. He could just build all-new Icons. And if his volume increases, Ward says, that would drop the cost to build them significantly.

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Popular Mechanics participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.